Politics
Chief suspect in 2013 Türkiye’s Reyhanlı attack caught fleeing in Syria
Syrian authorities have captured Mihraç Ural, a suspect in the 2013 Reyhanlı bombings that killed 53 people in southern Türkiye, Syria’s state news agency SANA reported Thursday.
Syria’s General Intelligence Directorate reportedly detained Ural as he attempted to escape across the border. according to the agency.
He is among the defendants in the case involving the bombings that struck Reyhanlı, a town in Türkiye’s southern Hatay province near the Syrian border, in May 2013.
Two car bombs exploded in Reyhanlı, killing 53 people, including five children, and wounding scores of others. Court records showed that 912 homes, 891 businesses and 148 vehicles were damaged in the blasts.
According to an indictment prepared by the Adana Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, Mihraç Ural planned the attack in coordination with the intelligence service of the ousted Assad regime.
Judges said the explosives were smuggled from Syria into Türkiye through five separate maritime shipments using fishing boats. The materials were allegedly concealed in sacks and transported under the supervision of individuals linked to Syrian intelligence under Bashar Assad.
The court found that the defendants acted in coordination with Syrian intelligence operatives and played central roles in preparing the attack. Testimony and evidence presented during the proceedings indicated that those involved were promised large sums of money in exchange for carrying out logistical and operational tasks.
Ural fled Türkiye for Syria in 1982 after being imprisoned over his involvement in illegal organizational activities.
He has also been identified as a key figure responsible for the 2013 massacres in the villages of Banyas and Bayda along Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
Following the outbreak of the Arab Spring and anti-government protests in Syria, Ural reactivated the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Sanjak of Iskenderun-Syrian Resistance, a sectarian-based militant organization, in early 2012.
In Syria, he reportedly developed close ties with Jamil Assad, the brother of former Syrian leader Hafez Assad, through his wife, Malak Fadel, who had family connections to the Assad dynasty. Those relationships reportedly helped Ural gain considerable wealth and influence in the country.
His capture follows the arrest of his associate Cemal Trablusi, whose detention was announced by Syria’s Interior Ministry on Oct. 4.
The ministry said counterterrorism units had detained Trablusi, who reportedly served as the Aleppo representative and office director of the Mukawama Suriya organization.
Türkiye slammed Israel on Wednesday for escalating regional tensions through provocations targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque and efforts to obstruct Syria’s recovery, reaffirming its commitment to regional stability and stronger defense cooperation with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.
The concerns were raised during a meeting of the Presidential High Advisory Board chaired by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex in Ankara, according to a written statement by Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran.
The meeting focused on recent regional and international developments, with officials warning of mounting instability across the Middle East.
Participants criticized Israel for launching provocations targeting Al-Aqsa Mosque following its attacks on the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, while also seeking to prevent Syria from rebuilding after years of conflict.
The board also highlighted Türkiye’s growing defense cooperation with regional partners, citing the joint defense agreement signed with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in Mecca as a demonstration of strengthened solidarity among the three countries.
Officials stressed that Türkiye has continued to navigate regional tensions with restraint and composure, avoiding provocations while maintaining its focus on diplomatic engagement and regional stability.
The meeting reaffirmed that promoting regional peace and security remains a central priority of Türkiye’s foreign policy.
Alongside Erdoğan, the meeting was attended by board members Ismail Kahraman, Mehmet Ali Şahin, Cemil Çiçek, Ismet Yılmaz, Binali Yıldırım and Mustafa Şentop.
Presidential Secretary-General Hakkı Susmaz, Communications Director Duran and Presidential Chief of Staff Hasan Doğan also attended.
Dündar Ziya Gültekin, who was elected as acting mayor of the Üsküdar district in Istanbul last month, was killed in a car crash in northern Türkiye on Thursday.
Gültekin was among five people injured when their car collided with another car in Düzce province on the Anatolian Highway. He was traveling to the capital Ankara from Istanbul.
Hasan Şengüloğlu, head of the Düzce branch of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), which Gültekin represented in Üsküdar, announced the death hours after the injured were taken to a nearby hospital. Media outlets reported that the accident stemmed from road conditions.
Heavy rainfall caused slippery roads in Türkiye’s north, and two people were killed in Istanbul amid severe floods on Wednesday.
Gültekin, a municipal council member from the AK Party, was elected acting mayor of Üsküdar on Sept. 8, in a rerun vote following a court decision suspending the previous election. Üsküdar Mayor Sinem Dedetaş was arrested on July 31 as part of an investigation into allegations of establishing a criminal organization, bribery and extortion. She was subsequently suspended from office by the Interior Ministry, prompting the special election.
Members of the Turkish minority in Greece’s Western Thrace region have raised concerns over the continued closure of minority schools, warning that the measures threaten children’s right to education in their native language and the preservation of their cultural identity.
Eight Turkish minority primary schools have had their operations suspended for the 2026-2027 academic year, including five in Rhodope, two in Xanthi and one in Evros, according to Mustafa Trampa, chair of the Western Thrace Turkish Minority Advisory Board and elected mufti of Xanthi (Iskeçe).
Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA), Trampa said the suspensions, officially described as temporary, effectively amounted to permanent closures, undermining the minority community’s educational and cultural rights.
He argued that minority education enjoys a special legal status under the Treaty of Lausanne, bilateral agreements and international law, which should protect schools from closure solely because of declining enrollment.
“If we want to preserve our Turkish language, we must also preserve our schools,” Trampa said, emphasizing the role of bilingual education in maintaining the community’s identity, traditions and religious heritage.
Trampa criticized Greece’s policy of suspending schools with low enrollment, pointing to Türkiye’s efforts to maintain Greek minority schools in Istanbul and Gökçeada despite similarly limited student numbers.
He urged Athens to adopt a comparable approach, arguing that preserving minority schools would also safeguard the region’s cultural diversity.
The closures have also placed additional burdens on families, forcing young children to travel to neighboring villages for education, often under difficult winter conditions, Trampa said.
He warned that losing a school could weaken village life by removing an institution central to the community’s cultural and educational activities.
Ozan Ahmetoğlu, chair of the Xanthi Minority Secondary and High School Board, echoed those concerns, criticizing Greek authorities for applying nationwide minimum-enrollment rules to minority schools without accounting for their distinct legal status.
Ahmetoğlu said the number of Turkish minority primary schools had declined significantly in recent years, raising fears about the long-term survival of bilingual education in Western Thrace.
He called on Greece’s Education Ministry to engage directly with minority representatives and school administrators to develop mutually acceptable solutions.
According to Ahmetoğlu, repeated requests over the past three decades to improve educational standards in minority schools have gone unanswered, contributing to growing frustration among parents and community leaders.
He said the lack of consultation had fueled concerns that the gradual closure of minority schools could ultimately undermine the community’s educational institutions.
Minority representatives insist that their demands extend beyond keeping school buildings open, emphasizing the importance of ensuring children can receive quality education in both Turkish and Greek.
“This is an acquired right, and we want to exercise it,” Ahmetoğlu underlined.
He stressed that minority families want their children to develop strong proficiency in Greek while retaining their native language and cultural heritage.
Ahmetoğlu described minority schools as institutions essential to preserving cultural continuity, identity and belonging, urging Greek authorities to recognize their importance.
Both representatives called for renewed dialogue with Athens and greater respect for the minority education framework established under international agreements.
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced on Wednesday the capture of 33 out of 35 suspects for whom detention warrants were issued as a result of operations conducted across four separate investigations centered in Izmir, Eskişehir and Ağrı against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and Daesh.
In a statement made on his social media account, Gürlek stated that they will not tolerate any financial network, organizational activity or restructuring attempt of FETÖ. FETÖ has been on the decline after its attempt to seize power through military infiltrators on July 15, 2016, spectacularly failed. Yet, multiple operations conducted since then indicated that the group tapped into commerce and a secret scheme of donations to regain its former power.
“Today, as a result of joint efforts conducted by our police and gendarmerie organizations under the coordination of our Chief Public Prosecutor’s Offices in Izmir, Eskişehir and Ağrı, four separate operations were carried out targeting the FETÖ and Daesh terrorist groups. As part of the operations, 33 out of a total of 35 wanted suspects were detained. One suspect is at large,” Gürlek said.
“In the investigations, significant findings were reached regarding FETÖ’s financial connections extending abroad, money transfers carried out through companies, and its current structure.”
Conveying that in the Eskişehir-centered investigation, money transfers were determined to have been made through a U.S.-based company affiliated with FETÖ in exchange for food products sent from Türkiye, Gürlek said: “It was evaluated that the transfers in question could be used in financing the restructuring of FETÖ. In the operation carried out against 10 suspects, nine suspects were caught and detained. Efforts to capture one suspect are ongoing.”
Gürlek said two suspects were captured in an Izmir-based investigation, and the suspects were identified through their ties with now-defunct lender Bank Asya, once secretly operated by FETÖ, and through their use of Bylock, an encrypted messaging app exclusively used and developed by the members of the terrorist group.
Stating that in the other Izmir-centered investigation, operations were carried out in four provinces targeting 21 suspects evaluated to be active within FETÖ’s current structure, Gürlek reported that all of the suspects were caught and detained.
Former Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoğlu, who is standing trial on organized crime and corruption-related charges, began presenting his first defense Wednesday, focusing on current political developments rather than the allegations against him.
Imamoğlu, who remains in pretrial detention and is identified by prosecutors as the alleged leader of a criminal organization, addressed the court on the 34th day of the trial’s second hearing.
During the initial session, Imamoğlu discussed political developments but did not directly address the specific allegations outlined in the indictment.
The proceedings follow a tense exchange between Imamoğlu and the presiding judge during a July 8 hearing, when the defendant objected to restrictions on the time allocated for his defense.
The judge told Imamoğlu that he could either present his defense or exercise his right to remain silent.
“I am not exercising my right to remain silent,” Imamoğlu responded, before insisting that the court could not determine what he would say.
During the confrontation, Imamoğlu also declared that he would put those responsible for preparing the indictment on trial.
Prosecutors subsequently opened a separate investigation into Imamoğlu on suspicion of threatening a public official, citing his remarks directed at the judicial proceedings.
The latest hearing marks the beginning of Imamoğlu’s substantive defense phase in the high-profile trial, although he had yet to respond to the charges during Wednesday’s opening session.
The indictment identifies Imamoğlu as the alleged “leader of a criminal organization” and accuses him of offenses including forming an organization to commit crimes, bribery, money laundering, fraud against public institutions, unlawfully recording and obtaining personal data, concealing evidence, obstructing communications, damaging public property, publicly disseminating misleading information, extortion, bid-rigging, deliberate environmental pollution and violations of tax, forestry and mining laws.
Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of between 828 years, two months and 2,352 years for the ex-mayor over 142 alleged acts.
New Party (YP) Chair Özgür Özel and several party lawmakers attended the proceedings, alongside Imamoğlu’s wife and parents.
Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Nechirvan Barzani said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to resolve Türkiye’s longstanding “Kurdish issue,” expressing support for Ankara’s ongoing “Terror-free Türkiye” initiative to disarm the terrorist group PKK. The PKK claims to fight for a so-called Kurdish cause in Türkiye.
Speaking at a forum, Barzani said he initially had doubts about the seriousness of the initiative but became convinced of Ankara’s commitment following a meeting with Erdoğan.
“Whoever resolves the Kurdish issue in Türkiye deserves the Nobel Prize, and President Erdoğan is at the forefront of that,” Barzani said.
He acknowledged criticism over the pace of the initiative but stressed that resolving longstanding issues would require time and sustained political commitment.
“The Terror-free Türkiye initiative is a serious process, but there may be complaints that it is moving slowly. I think that is natural. It cannot be resolved overnight,” Barzani said.
He added that while progress might not be as rapid as expected, the initiative was moving in the right direction.
Barzani reiterated the KRG’s support for the process, saying the regional administration was prepared to contribute to its success.
“The process benefits everyone, both us and Türkiye,” he said, arguing that a successful outcome would strengthen Türkiye’s regional standing.
Progress in Syria
Turning to developments in neighboring Syria, Barzani expressed optimism about President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s approach toward the Kurdish population, saying he believed the Syrian leader was committed to addressing longstanding grievances.
Barzani said he had not encountered anti-Kurdish attitudes during his meeting with al-Sharaa in Damascus and noted progress in efforts to integrate Kurdish forces into Syria’s security institutions.
He also highlighted steps toward expanding Kurdish-language education, describing them as significant developments following decades of restrictions under the former Assad regime.
The Syrian administration and the YPG terror group reached a new agreement Jan. 29 that provided for a cease-fire and the group’s gradual integration into state institutions.
In late August, the U.S.-backed YPG terrorist group announced that its so-called autonomous administration and all its military and civilian structures have been dissolved.
Approximately 13,000 people have joined the Syrian army, while another 17,000 have entered security institutions, although he did not specify the timeframe for those figures, according to Barzani.
He recalled that Kurds in Syria previously faced difficulties obtaining citizenship documents and said recent measures represented meaningful progress.
Barzani also described symbolic gestures during his visit to Damascus, including a Kurdish-language welcome at the airport, the display of Iraqi and KRG flags, and menus prepared in Kurdish.
He said these gestures reinforced his impression that al-Sharaa wanted to improve relations with Kurdish communities.
However, Barzani cautioned that Syria faces substantial challenges in rebuilding after years of conflict, citing widespread damage to infrastructure, social institutions and urban areas.
Reconstruction and political stabilization would require considerable time, he added.
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